Steam News announces the
new Scout update for Team Fortress 2 is now available, and in celebration they
are selling Team Fortress 2 on
Steam for half-price through Friday. The update to the teamplay shooter has
been detailed for the past week, but here's the rundown:

Updates to Team
Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when
your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

New features
• Added The Force-A-Nature, The Sandman, and Bonk!
• Added 35 new Scout achievements
• Added crit boosted on/off sound effects
• Added new sounds for upgraded teleporters
• Added new sound for a fully charged medic dying
• Add bonus points section to scores
• Scouts earn a bonus point for killing Medics who are actively healing a
target
• Added several new speech concepts, mostly hooked up to new Scout lines
• Added new "Remember last weapon between lives" option to the Multiplayer
Advanced dialog
• Spies can now control which weapon the enemy team sees them holding. Hitting
the "last disguise" key while disguised updates the disguise to show the Spy's
currently held weapon
• Added several new Arena mode announcer speech events.
• Added "First Blood" to Arena mode
• Removed 2x item respawn times in arena
• Changed backstab handling to fix facestabs
• Spies disguised as enemy team can now see player IDs for enemies

New maps
• Added community maps: cp_egypt, arena_watchtower, and cp_junction
• Updated cp_fastlane with Arttu's new version

Since playin with the new scouts as most have all the weapons due to 90% of ppl have been using the achievement servers to get them, it has been a nightmare. I play as a heavy mostly, but the scout is like 2 shots on a heavy with force of nature and Im dead, but i have to empty abt 30 shots to kill him when hes running around.

Its totally unbalanced and if they dont do something it will kill the game, cos ppl will get peeved off when the scout only has to shoot you twice to kill u.

I think the worst off is the soldier as he has only 4 shots at a time and is just as slow as the heavy, and the heavies natasha is crap in comparison to the scouts as the heavy is supposed to be the heavy weapons guy and yet the best of all is the lightest ie..scouts!

They totally broke the delicate balance that was in place with this update. SUCH a disappointment. Too bad they can't just ctrl+z the whole affair and go back to the way it was, which was fine. Instead, they bungle a class update with MAJOR balance issues, as well as causing new bugs. The most notable for me being the broken axetinguisher, which I had gotten used to taking out heavies with. Now it's just a regular axe, and maybe even a little weaker.

Now just watch servers start limiting the number of scouts to 0 just to fix the balance again. Valve, what the fuck?!

I'd say it's an obvious balancing move to make it so that the Sandman is different instead of better. Allowing you to use the bat before hitting the ball would make it a better-overall weapon. With the sandman, on the other hand, you're forced to give up the ball advantage before you can use it as a regular bat. Seems like an explicit, intentional disadvantage that Valve purposely put in there.

Except that it fucking does 50% LESS damage than the REGULAR bat to unstunned enemies, meaning it probably heals enemies hit with it. Or maybe I'd like to hit enemy balls back without wasting my own.

It isn't gimped. It's just retarded that scouts with Sand can't melee without using the ball. Alt fire is there for a reason.

You don't think it's an intentional disadvantage of the new weapon that you have to choose to give up the ball before being allowed to use the bat?

I'd say it's an obvious balancing move to make it so that the Sandman is different instead of better. Allowing you to use the bat before hitting the ball would make it a better-overall weapon. With the sandman, on the other hand, you're forced to give up the ball advantage before you can use it as a regular bat. Seems like an explicit, intentional disadvantage that Valve purposely put in there.

You say this is a weak update for the scout...I say it is way overpowered!

I play CTF_Convoy a lot. Before this update, you either had to run across 1 of the 2 bridges to get to the other convoy OR you could sticky jump or soldier jump if you are pretty good at it.

Now, a Scout using the Force a Nature can also make that jump. AND he takes no damage doing so (except maybe fall damage).

He can run circles around Sentries and he is now the only class that can do ANYTHING to an Ubered pair.

It's going to seriously change the way this map is played. A good jumping scout can now get to the other intel room in seconds giving even the fastest defending Engy no time to even get a level one in place.

I personally don't like a change that completely destroys a map and I feel like that is just what they have done to my beloved Convoy.

Oh, and a quick question... why the FUCK can't I swing sandman without USING MY BALL FIRST? WAS IT TOO HARD TO PUT THE BALL ATTACK ON ALT FIRE???

First you bitch about the Scout being overpowered, then you need to ask why the Scout's bat was further limited?

I had a blast playing last night. The Sandman was only a pain in the ass for my medic/heavy/pyro playing at first, once I got used to it, it was pretty easy to stay out of the way. Considering that Scouts only get one ball before they need to reload, it works out very well in the end.

Scouts earn a bonus point for killing Medics who are actively healing a target

But that's a violation of the Geneva Convention! Article 24!

Medical personnel exclusively engaged in the search for, or the collection, transport or treatment of the wounded or sick, or in the prevention of disease, staff exclusively engaged in the administration of medical units and establishments, as well as chaplains attached to the armed forces, shall be respected and protected in all circumstances.

I've never really played TF2 so I don't know if medics exclusively heal people. If they fight too, then there's no problem here.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke